Powerful Quake Hit Eastern Indonesia; No Damage, Casualty Reported
Eastern Indonesia was on Wednesday hit by a powerful earthquake, causing residents to flee from their buildings in panic, though no causing any serious damage or fatalities, said media reports.
According to the US Geological Survey, the quake, which measured 7.0 on Richter scane, was centred 18 miles beneath the ocean floor off the northern coast of Papua province, reports said.
The quake was followed by strong aftershocks and there were power blackouts in some areas, said reports.
Yan Pieter Yarangga, a resident from the town of Biak, said that hundreds of people ran out of their homes and, fearing tsunami, people fled beaches and raced for higher ground, reports said.
“I ran too, I was afraid there would be a second quake,” Yarangga was quoted as saying.
He said that there did not appear to be any damage, said reports.
The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency registered the temblor at 7.1, and initially warned that it had the potential to trigger a tsunami, which, however, didn’t occur, reports said.
The quake that hit Wednesday was located more than 2,000 miles (3,000 kilometers) from the country’s capital, Jakarta.
(Based on internet reports)
